Image Credit: Todd A. McKinley
Note from The Tennessee Conservative: Editorial statements in this column are the sole opinion of the author; they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the staff of this publication.
submitted by Todd A. McKinley –
Okay, the title harkens back to a simpler time in America, that or a Wes Anderson movie.
Despite dozens of false mailers, outrageous social media posts and the hundreds (or thousands) of whispered lies behind the scenes, Sullivan County conservatives saw through the charade and delivered the county Mayoral race to conservative and now republican nominee Mr. Zane Vanover.
Four years ago, Angie Stanley came within 200’ish votes of unseating incumbent Mayor Richard Veneable. This year Mayor Venable announced his retirement from public office but instead of Angie taking up the mantle as “frontrunner,” the “Zane Train” got in the way and delivered a near 3K vote victory or slightly better than a 60-40 split to Zane which is his preferred name.
Full disclosure: I personally endorsed and voted for Mr. Vanover, and for my first article with The Tennessee Conservative I sat down with him a little more than a week after he received the Republican nomination for Sullivan County Mayor.
When I pulled onto his farm, he had just parked his big John Deere, and after exchanging niceties, we jumped straight into the interview.
Let’s jump right into it, what’s the feeling like a week after winning the nomination?
Zane’s response wasn’t one of self-congratulatory but one of deference to the people of Sullivan County, as he put it, “since December there’s been a lot of ups and downs, like a roller coaster, and finally your style and your message has been vindicated, and it gives you appreciation for the voters.”
What’s the talk around the dinner table? “The conversations is one of relief, the message we sent out was worth it, doing the right thing and being honest pays off and that make it worth it.”
How are the grandkids taking the win and how much extra walking are you going to have to do after promising them that every Tuesday will be “ice cream Tuesday,” if you won?
“It’s going to be ice-cream Tuesday every Tuesday; they want to let me forget it. But my grandkids paid a toll in this campaign, they sacrificed time with family and friends to help me, and I’ll not forget it, and the ice-cream Tuesday is a way to let them know I care, and it keeps me from forgetting. I’ll have to do extra walking, but my grandkids are worth it.”
You realize it might sound gimmicky, but all tourist locations have gimmicks to bring in visitors. Could an “ice cream Tuesday,” be in the works soon? It could at least be something to promote other events, as an example, come out to Blountville for a blue grass event and have ice cream with the Mayor, just something to play with and it likely came from your kitchen table. You could also hold an ice cream competition as an event itself or in conjunction with other public events throughout the county. Thoughts? “It’s not a bad idea, to bring people together, I’ve always viewed myself as a uniter, not a divider and I think ice-cream can unite.”
The reason I bring that up is to demonstrate that many great ideas have come from the dinner table, or front porch where we’re currently at. How can you as Mayor shine light on some of these problems that can only be solved at home, without coming across as preaching, given you’ll essentially be the de-facto county standard bearer?
“That’s the biggest reason I got involved in politics to move things back to the basics. I’m disgusted by a win at all cost mentality, I would rather lose an election by doing the right thing, then win the wrong way and that’s just who I am. I think actions speak louder than words, going out into the community and talking to people, talking to those who disagree with me. I think about Veterans how they went into places where people wanted to kill them, I don’t have that problem, so speaking to concerned citizens is an honor, but being a role model is part of being in public office.”
Have you noticed more people coming out to support you now that you’re a winner?
“I have, I’ll not hold anything against anyone, no matter hope they really voted. The time to heal is here and time to lead is nearly upon us, the campaign is over, let’s pick up and move on.”
Were you surprised by how nasty the campaign against you was and were you surprised at how quickly they went negative against you?
“I really was, I was hoping that the other side would try to stay positive and give them a chance to campaign how people should campaign. I thought after the first one (negative mailer), that that’s it, but the hits kept on coming. But as the negative adds came, the more votes it seemed I received.”
How do you square the circle with your former opponent and those who seemingly controlled her entire campaign? Do you let them come to you and apologize or do you adopt a forgive and move on mentality, knowing that Jesus forgives but we humans don’t forget?
“Like I just said, you have to hold yourself to a higher standard, you have to look out for the entire county, put things behind you, do what’s right for the county and put the personal issues behind you.”
Mr. Vanover spent many years as a teacher and coach in Sullivan County, so I asked him a few questions directed at younger generations.
What advice would you give young kids who had to see and hear all the negativity that seems to be the norm now at all levels, how do you explain this to your grandchildren who had to see mailers depicting you as something maleficent?
“I think the answer is in the outcomes, you go down a road a hard road and, in the end, most often the right wins, so always do what’s right.”
It seems that older generations, your generation (Mr. Vanover’s generation), the generation that ushered in Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, the “Greatest Generation,” and so on at least until the latter half of the 20th century had an optimistic outlook on their community, now we see neighborhoods that were once pillars of the county long for better days. How do we change the mindset, how do we show people that a pill, a bottle a pipe and shot isn’t the answer? How do we save our nation if we can’t save our communities?
“I think that addiction stems from many factors, many times it’s a pure lack of hope, lack of someone who seemingly cares, lack of hope basically. It’s like a person told me one time, a person doesn’t do drugs for a good time, they do drugs to feel nothing and we have to inspire hope and look for real solutions in our communities, partnering with private organizations, non-profits, veterans groups and so on to help remove people from bad situations, but it takes an entire community to combat this scourge. We need to partner with nonprofits and Churches to combat the major issues in our communities. 4 years ago, I wasn’t aware of many of the local resources and now after having served 4 years on the commission and running for Mayor, I’ll gladly be working with them to help solve the drug crisis and whatever else ails the county.”
I believe you have a shot at bringing varied entities together to create a beacon in the Volunteer State that brings together county and municipal government resources and bully pulpits to bear coupled with for profit and all manner of nonprofits (such as Veteran Service Organizations) together to solve many problems that are rarely ever dealt with head on.
I don’t want this article to be to long, so what’s the next step between now and the General Election?
“Communications, with better communications come better transparency, I think people can handle bad information if you communicate with them. I want to use more social media, create an e-newsletter like Mayor Pat Shull in Kingsport had a few years ago, speaking at community functions, civic groups etc. Just be available and ready to listen to the public and work to deliver on my campaign promises.”
Final thought(s)?
“I’m overwhelmed with the support, I think we won with a large enough margin to have a mandate to get several things done. I think once the new commission is sworn in, I would like to sit down with them and get their take on things and look to work with them, because a Mayor can’t do much without the county commission interested in working with them. So the first thing to do is get their support and work closely with them.”
